Willie Penrose (Westmeath, Labour)

I move amendment No. 3:

In page 5, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:

1.—The Minister shall within 6 months from after the passing of this Act prepare and lay before both Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the social welfare treatment of income from SSIAs.

The Minister has reacted positively to this matter that was brought to public attention by my colleague, Deputy Lynch, who was particularly eagle-eyed in respect of it. She was sharper than her spokesperson in the area in that regard and articulated the difficulties that would arise in respect of the social welfare treatment of income from SSIAs. This is a Government-backed scheme and those on social welfare payments who have invested whatever small amounts they can afford in it are entitled to obtain the same benefits as anybody else. Most of them will not contemplate having a pot of gold at the end of their rainbows but it would be a grave injustice if the small amounts of capital they would have accumulated during the scheme prevented them from qualifying for something in respect of which they would normally have qualified.

We appreciate that the Minister could not treat income from this source differently from income derived from sources such as credit unions, financial institutions or whatever. To be fair, he did flag the difficulties that might arise. He and his officials have brought forward, in the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, a mechanism to deal with the problem. I will, therefore, withdraw the amendment.

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